Tales of An Excellent Shinobi
by ncfan
Summary: A series of drabbles, anything that comes into my head really, about the Naruto cast.
1. Discord in the Ranks

This is a little long to be a drabble, but I got carried away.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

When Lee and Tenten first meet, they are immediate best friends.

Their first meeting with Neji doesn't go half so well.

It is four years after Lee and Tenten first met; the three are all nine.

After school Tenten goes looking for Lee so they can walk back to the foster home together (in that dirty, dangerous place, the two children are each other's only solace) and finds her almost-brother being mercilessly tormented by Neji.

In that moment, Tenten doesn't care that Neji is a Hyuuga, that he could shatter her ribs with only a gentle touch, or that he is nearly twice her size. In that moment, all Tenten wants to do is _kill_ him.

Neji only half hears her approach, and looks back just in time to see a tiny fist careening into his face.

He has enough time to see a pathetically scrawny girl with her slightly frizzy hair in buns and her knees heavily skinned before she's on him.

Because they are still on school property, the instructors step in. It takes the combined forces of Iruka-sensei grabbing Tenten and Mizuki-sensei seizing Neji to pull them apart.

With two black eyes, bruised arms and sore ribs, Tenten is jubilant. She sticks her tongue out at Neji as they are hauled off in opposite directions, Lee running after her and Iruka-sensei.

With a black eye, a broken wrist and collarbone and bite marks on his arms that require Tetanus shots later, Neji definitely came off worse in that fight.

Afterwards, Iruka-sensei gives her a sound, shaky scolding while attending to her injuries, but gives her a rib-cracking hug afterwards. He understands full well why she did what she did.

It's all Lee can do not to run off after Neji and try to pound him himself; Tenten stops him because she knows that Neji would beat him bloody. Lee is thankful for Tenten's support, but like a man he is a little ashamed that she had to step in for him like that.

When Neji is seen to by one of the Hyuuga healers, he hears the healer mention, after seeing Neji's fractured collarbone, _"That is one strong little nine-year-old. Especially for not being a Hyuuga."_

Neji only nods, his disdain for the little girl who'd jumped him dead where it stands after hearing those words.

Later, like a little boy with a crush who doesn't know what to do, he tries to talk to her. Constantly. After a long string of expletive-laden threats (and everyone wants to know where Tenten picked up such words; she says, _"From both of the so-called "homes" I've lived in."_), his persistence lasts about a week.

It is only a year later that the three begin to become friends.

A group of boys are trying, none too gently, to convince Tenten that girls can't be ninja, and they're using their fists to get the point across. Neji steps in and before he and Tenten begin to fight side by side (their first fight on the same side), he looks at them and coldly says, _"She is the strongest person I know."_

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Who likes it? It's so much more fun to assume that Team Gai started off hating each other (or at least, Tenten and Lee hated Neji who hated then liked Tenten); there was so much obvious friction between the three of them in the show.


	2. Flashback, Uncaring

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sasori blinks in slight confusion when he first sees the unconscious jinchūriki wrapped in one of Deidara's inartistic clay birds.

The boy, Gaara is his name, is not what he expected of the Yondaime's son. Sasori remembers the Yondaime from before he was Kazekage; he was a tall, well-built man with brown hair and beady dark brown eyes.

This boy is short and slender (probably from malnourishment, Sasori thinks with a click), with a thick head of fine, soft dark red hair and pale porcelain skin. He opens his black-rimmed eyes briefly; they are large and sea foam green.

First, Sasori thinks of how much this boy looks like him. Second, he thinks of how much Gaara looks like someone Sasori once knew.

The resemblance isn't obvious; the person Sasori's comparing him to had honey blonde hair and deep green eyes. But there is something about Gaara's strangely delicate, slightly feminine features that is reminiscent of possibly the only person Sasori ever called friend.

A boy is following them. This boy is Gaara's brother. He is a puppeteer, using _Sasori's _puppets. The ultimate puppet master can't resist a snort.

This boy is the image of the Yondaime, in all aspects but one. His eyes are wider and rounder.

Sasori even catches a glimpse of the sister at one point. Then he knows.

_So she actually married that jerk?_

For a moment, an old image flashes through Sasori. A little girl with an iron fan and an even younger red-headed boy with puppets are sent into battle for the first time, in the tail end of the Second War.

Wind users and puppeteers are often put together. The Wind user can use his or her ability to forcibly propel a puppet near an enemy.

Sasori and his teammate worked well together.

It is this knowledge that allows him to spare Kankuro. This is not out of kindness, just a favor to his teammate.

If Sasori still had room for sentimentality, he might have been disturbed. But he isn't. He is just a puppet.

And Gaara is just a sacrifice, regardless of who his mother was.

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Hope you liked it.


	3. The Courtship of Sabure Karura

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sabaku no Takeo (the future Yondaime Kazekage) has known Sabure Karura for a little over a year before he asks the seventeen-year-old (he's five years older; that contributes to Yashamaru's dislike of him) out on a date to one of the most expensive restaurants in Suna; he's been on dates before, and he wants to do this right the first time.

When Karura and Takeo go to this restaurant, they aren't at first aware that they're being tailed.

They remain unaware until Karura notices that a particularly large plant in the corner is shaking. She smiles mischievously at Takeo, holds up a finger to her lips, and begins to sneak over there.

A soft gust of wind later, Yashamaru, Baki, and Kuya (the latter two are her students) come tumbling out.

"Yashamaru. Baki. Kuya." Her voice is forced to be even as she nods in turn to both of them.

"Neesan." Yashamaru grins sheepishly.

"Sensei." Baki and Kuya respond in unison.

Karura frowns, then looks up. "You too, Sasori?" She incredulously greets her former teammate as he walks out from the shadows.

Sasori scoffs. "Hardly. I for one think you can handle yourself. I was just here to make sure these three don't do anything drastic."

This intervention earns Sasori a fond kiss on the cheek (even he looks somewhat embarrassed at this) and the other three promises that she will do this to them on their first date.

Later, when Baki has his first date with his future wife, he wishes his sensei was alive to see it.

The first time Takeo asks Karura to marry him, she laughs in his face. After he stalks off to brood and she realizes he was being serious, she has the grace to be embarrassed.

He doesn't talk to her for nearly six months. To Karura's amazement (and secret gratification), the first thing he says is a reiteration of his previous request. This time, she asks him to give her time.

And so it is for nearly a year and a half.

Finally, Takeo loses patience and gets down on his knees and eloquently _begs_ her to marry him. This time, she smiles and says "_Yes_" before leaning forward and kissing him.

Their courtship was, for three years, just about the _only_ thing spoken of by the Suna shinobi when they weren't on the front lines of the battlefield. There were many bets taken on the outcome, and that day, many a shinobi went home with their pockets considerably heavier than before.

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I always figured that their courtship must have been really busy.


	4. The Image of Her Mother

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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When Temari thinks of Yashamaru, her deep green eyes see red and blood.

For the first six years that her baby brother is alive, Temari honestly believes that Yashamaru genuinely cares for Gaara. She goes so fat as to think that Yashamaru loves Gaara the same way he loves her and Kankuro.

But when Temari is eight, she begins to notice something a bit…off about Yashamaru's behavior towards Gaara. When Yashamaru calls Temari "hime", his eyes are gently warm and full of love. When he hugs her, his arms feel soft. When Kankuro shows off the simple puppets he has made, Yashamaru is all praise and honey-sweetness.

But it is not the same with Gaara. Yashamaru is always distant, aloof, and a little cool. The words "I love you" never come out of his mouth. Gaara's first word was "Yashamaru" but the med nin seemed unmoved.

Gaara doesn't notice. Kankuro doesn't notice. But Temari does.

Something about this behavior disconcerts Temari. It makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Temari is determined to spend more time with Gaara, to make sure he and Yashamaru aren't left alone together anymore than is possible.

But it isn't enough.

After Yashamaru has performed a hopeless attempted murder-suicide and the Kazekage arrives at the place where his three children are, Temari thrusts her brothers behind her (bloody and blank-eyed Gaara and terrified Kankuro), and screams her father down. Though she is young, she know exactly who is behind this.

She curses her father to high heaven and low hell for leaving a broken home for _her_ to deal with, and spits on the name of her now-late uncle ("Because all liars rot in Hell!").

It would have been laughable, except for one thing.

The Kazekage grimaces and irritably says, "I really wish that the only way you took after your mother was in looks."


	5. Children of the Sand

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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The shinobi of the Sand are harsh, unforgiving. These children of the desert, these desert people, their ways are considered strange.

No tears are shed in public for the souls of those who have fallen. If any tears ever fall, they fall where none can't see. In public, those in mourning do not dehydrate themselves and thus endanger themselves.

They fight to the last man, and there is absolutely no margin for error or mercy. A Sand shinobi always fights to win. If they fall, they don't fall without a struggle or without scraping some victory out of defeat. Total failure is unacceptable.

The sensei-student bonds are unusual. They all seem detached and formal. The sensei pushes his/her students incredibly, even cruelly hard and the teammates' rivalries are tense enough to kill (the genin mortality rate in Suna tends to be high).

But they are as close as a family, an example that often does not hold in other countries. It is typical (unless the genin are of the highest social class) for a sensei to open up their home to their genin; they board together, live, eat, and sleep together. An old saying in Suna goes: _"It's better that you be able to get along with those you're going to be fighting alongside of."_

A Sand kunoichi is more likely to be found on the front lines of battle rather than skulking around the shadows in an infiltration mission or an assassination mission. Her skills are better put into practice on a battlefield than in a palace; she is more suited for battle than seduction, though she is more than capable of both.

The children of the Sand are the epitome of shinobi. They are hard and unyielding, their spines as iron. They are passionate in all that they do, passionate in love…and in hatred. Nothing that is done is ever done halfheartedly. Shinobi of the Sand are as fiery as the sun.

The desert is an unforgiving world. Those who are weak…die. For the sake of their survival, the Sand shinobi must be strong. To survive in a place that is as dry as bleached bones and as hot as one of the plains of Hell, strength and passion become bywords. So their ways are strange to befit a strange world.

The Sand shinobi carry the desert with them. Everywhere they go, hot, bright sunlight is carried with them; small grains of sand fall from their clothes, from their hair. No one can ever forget the world in which they live and die. None can ever forget that they are children of the Sand.

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I hope you liked it. If anyone wants me to, I can go more into detail with Suna characters based on this entry. Just leave a request.


	6. Hair

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"I was probably seven the first time I got my hair pulled up like this."

Sakura has her elbows resting on the window, staring at the fiery tapestry sinking, growing darker, with a soft, lazy smile playing across her face. Tenten is sitting on the bed, absently sharpening a kunai. Temari gets up from the armchair to stoke the fire blazing in the grate; desert nights do tend to be chilly, after all.

"It pinched a lot; my hair was a little shorter and my scalp a little more tender. But I loved wearing my hair like this; the only time I took the ties out was when I was sleeping, a bit like Kankuro discovering kabuki paint when he was ten."

Sakura smiles and begins to nod off to sleep. Temari notices and, an unaccountably gentle expression in her exquisite eyes, she gently takes the crook of the girls arm and leads her to the bed to sit beside Tenten. The pink-haired medic is content to stare at the fire, lulled by warmth and sleep, only half-listening to what her friends are speaking of.

"I've always wanted to cut this short—maybe Sakura's length," Tenten suddenly bursts out. Tenten indicates her hair, down that evening. Down, her hair is slightly longer than Sakura's was when she first became a genin.

"Then why don't you." Temari's voice, though friendly—she and Tenten have become friends of a sort, friendship built by mutual respect and sparring practice—is somewhat challenging.

The chunin shrugs uncomfortably. The reason she doesn't cut her hair is because of a memory. When her sister Mayumi had still lived with her, she would, every morning and evening, take a hairbrush and patiently work out the snarls and tangles so prevalent among her long, straight hair, before she put it up in the buns in the morning and after she took them down in the evening.

It is respect for her sister, even if Mayumi fundamentally abandoned her after they were sent to the foster home and Mayumi ran away, that stays her hand. Tenten shrugs and says, "My sister would have had a fit."

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This is possibly the least serious thing I have ever written. How do I do at things non-angsty? Also, the offer I made in the previous entry stands for all chapters. Just send a review if you have a request.


	7. Chance Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"You may go, Yugito-san." The Raikage's consent is all the eleven-year-old needs to hear. Giving her master a perfunctory bow, the sinuous preteen slips out of the council room.

Her master has brought her to Suna for his talks with the Kazekage for one reason: to gather information about the jinchūriki of the Shukaku, a boy about five years younger than herself.

The words of her master ring in her mind the way her footsteps do off the walls. _The jinchūriki is, according to my information, a young boy named Gaara. He will have the physical markers of the Shukaku's warder, black-rimmed eyes, no hair on his brows, and pupil less eyes. There are also rumors—only rumors—that this boy may be the Kazekage's son. Also, he should be easy to pick out; he has extremely vivid red hair._

Yugito's clear blue cat eyes flick around the sandstone walls in amazement. Suna is like an alien world; the architecture is strange but beautiful.

Her cat curiosity compels her to walk on. Eventually she comes to a courtyard, where she frowns to see a small boy sitting on the steps to the opposite side. The boy has blood red hair.

_Is this him?_ The sun catches off of Yugito's silver blonde hair (she has left the hood to her dark gray cloak down) blindingly as with sibilant grace, her pupils narrowing to slits, as she walks towards him. None of the guards stationed at the doors attempt to stop her.

Yugito isn't at all good with children, so she pauses, paralyzed with indecision. Eventually, she just decides to, with all the grace of a nimble cat, she folds her cloak as she sits down beside him.

"Hello," she half-whispers.

Gaara looks up, taking in the fact that there is a girl with a long blonde ponytail whose eyes have slits for pupils. "Who are you?" he whispers, his voice tremulously soft.

"My name is Yugito. You are Gaara-sama, correct?"

He smiles, nodding to her politely. Yugito thinks that this boy has very good manners for a brat. His eyes widen with curiosity when he sees her sword. "Are you with the Raikage's party, Yugito-san?"

"Yes."

He peers closer at her; Yugito notices how penetrating his soft green eyes, the color of grass stalks when they are still forming, are. "Are you like me?" His voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper; Gaara seems to whisper a lot.

Yugito hesitates; she knows exactly what he's talking about when he says that. _He's just a boy. What could it hurt?_ "Yes."

He rewards her honesty with a blinding smile. "Will you teach me how to use it?" he points to the sword.

This makes Yugito's hands tense against her knees. Was the boy so desperate for company that he was willing to befriend another jinchūriki, one he barely knew, one who was clearly taciturn and unsociable? The answer, Yugito knew from her own experiences, was yes. She didn't want to lie to him; there was a good chance that they would never meet again. "When you are older, if you send for me, I will come."

A slight-framed, effeminate-looking man with blond hair calls to Gaara. "Coming, Yashamaru! Bye, Yugito-san."

After a slight smile, she noiselessly glides away, with all the contained grace of an age-old nekomata.

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How was that? Yugito and Gaara should have met at least once.


	8. The Intent To Harm

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sasori and Karura both hurt their village.

Karura's corrosive hate for the man who had signed her death warrant, for the man who had warped her unborn son into something inhuman had overwhelmed her. It overcame reason, overcame the love she bore her children.

Her howls could be heard throughout Suna; the villagers quaked in terror the night she died.

Her curse cast a pall over the village; the villagers later swore that a storm wind blew over Suna as Karura died.

Some argued that her curse bore no weight; they were the ones who tried to deny fate.

But soon none could deny that her curse had had some power behind it, that she had indeed cursed her village. The presence of the jinchūriki host proved that.

Sasori, for his own petty reasons of revenge, murdered the Sandaime, utilizing his corpse to become the most fearsome human puppet in his collection. He personally instigated the Third Great Shinobi World War, the seven year conflict that nearly brought Suna to it's knees.

He left his village with the intent to never return.

But he returned to bring the Godaime Kazekage, that same child blighted by the village Sasori despised, to the Akatsuki. The ensuing battle left the village in chaos. Sasori's intent was to see Suna burn. And deep down, the part of him, the tiny, measly portion, thought that just maybe this was revenge for the way his old friend's life was snuffed.

Both Sasori and Karura hurt their village. But there was a difference.

To hurt Suna was all Sasori had ever intended to do.

Karura had never intended for her anguish and rage to snuff out her sanity.

But it made little difference.

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Considering that in my fics (see some of the previous drabbles) Sasori and Karura have a connection, this seemed appropriate.


	9. Test Subject

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sasori's mind jutsu is not perfected when he uses it on Kabuto. The boy is nine years old, a few months away from graduating the academy, and the young Akatsuki member feels the need to have an operative in Konoha so he can keep an eye on things in the Leaf village. The jutsu is not perfected, because unlike those who will later be struck with it, Kabuto remembers.

He remembers, but it is like he's being controlled from behind like a stringed marionette. He loses his appetite and does not eat or sleep as much as a boy his age should, worrying his parents, his father especially, but every time Kabuto attempts to tell them what's going on (and there are many attempts), his jaw locks up, his throat stops working, and all he can do is stare helplessly at his parents, perturbing them further.

The first time Kabuto meets Orochimaru, he is reporting to Sasori, who has brought his partner along. All throughout the debriefing, Kabuto can feel Orochimaru's eyes on him, the golden snake eyes gleaming with intense interest.

The second time, it has been eight months since the jutsu has been placed on him, eight months of what Kabuto considers psychological torture, and knows that he will never be a child again. Orochimaru gives him a choice; have the jutsu removed at a risk of death, or have it left in place. Kabuto has no idea why Orochimaru is offering to remove a jutsu his partner placed on him, but he practically begs him to lift it.

Sasori's mind jutsu goes far beyond the normal genjutsu; it is far more deep-rooted than that. Orochimaru has never used his releasing technique before when he tests it on Kabuto; the counter jutsu nearly kills the boy, but it works.

_The light is blinding when he wakes up. Kabuto shields his face with an arm. _Orochimaru-sama…He told me not to say anything…

"_Kabuto!" It is his father's voice. Kabuto realizes he is in a hospital room; it is morning. The worry is palpable in his voice._

"_Dad…"_

"_Do you remember what happened?" his father asks urgently._

"_No." It is not a lie. Kabuto's memories before passing out are blurry; only Orochimaru's order comes across clearly. "It's all a blur."_

_His father's gray eyes soften. "Just a little short-term memory loss. Perfectly normal with head wounds." He taps Kabuto's forehead; for the first time, he realizes that his forehead is tightly swathed in bandages. "Your teammates were found with you; it's been about three days since then. Yasu's injuries aren't as bad, Yuki's a little more serious. You'll be fine, though." He smiles in fervent relief._

_Kabuto smiles with him, feeling weak and light-headed yet unaccountably happy…_

He was a test subject for Sasori and Orochimaru. Years later, whenever Kabuto thinks about it, he fights to restrain fits of hysterical laughter. _A test subject. Might as well have been a white rat in a lab cage…_

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Here's the scenario: Sasori and Orochimaru both tested out brand new jutsus that they had never used before on Kabuto, knowing that if something went wrong, he could die, and neither one of them care. Yasu and Yuki are the names I've thought up for Kabuto's first genin team (only in my interpretation of _Naruto_); they're killed a few years later.


	10. A Wish Gone Unheeded

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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The Shinigami decides to be merciful tonight, allowing a man a few final moments to say good bye.

Minato edges towards his wailing son, feeling the clawed hands of the Shinigami begin to pierce him. _Not yet…_

His eyes fill with salt tears as he rubs the soft blond fuzz on his head and he leans down to kiss his tender forehead. Naruto has been cleaned of the sticky amniotic fluid that always accompanies a birth.

Minato's sea blue eyes darken to see the ugly black spiral seal snaking up the baby's belly, the livid marks a reminder of what he had done to the child, of what has been sealed inside of him.

He draws his arms around his son, pulling him closer. It is so cold this October. _You may grow up hating me for what I've done, but you have to believe me, I think it was the right thing to do. The fox couldn't be allowed to destroy any more of the village._

Naruto's sobbing begins to die down as he realizes that there is something warm and soft around him. Minato smiles a watery, tearful smile as Naruto opens his eyes and looks at him. Baby blue eyes, eyes the color of cornflowers in spring stare back at his father, full of wonder and adoration.

A sob chokes in Minato's throat as he remembers that this is the look, the look of total, unconditional trust, that almost made him not seal the Kyuubi in him. Minato knows he doesn't deserve that sort of trust.

_I'm so sorry._

The two snuggle closer together as Minato feels the grip of the Shinigami tighten. "I don't want to lose you," he whispers, only a few tears dripping from his dimming eyes now. "But I don't seem to have much of a choice. Oh well," he smiles weakly, attempting to make a joke. "I guess I'm going to have to go explain all of this to your mother now."

A patter of feet alert Minato. He looks up. Greeting him is a pair of mismatched eyes, one black, one Sharingan red. Kakashi stares down at him, his face above the mask pale and drained.

As the Shinigami finally tears Minato's life from his veins, he finds the strength to whisper, with an almost serene smile on his face, "Take care of him, Kakashi. He's a hero."

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I feel so sorry for Minato.


	11. Introduction to Art

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"This is your room, brat," Sasori, in his Hiruko disguise, flatly tells Deidara.

Deidara is not what Sasori hoped for in a second partner (Though after Orochimaru, Sasori is bound to be critical and demanding of _anyone_ who works with him).

Deidara is twelve-years-old, easily the youngest member ever recruited to Akatsuki (_The boy should be honored, _Sasori thinks), a boy from Iwagakure who's already seen too much; Sasori can see that in the boy's eyes.

The boy has a somewhat feminine appearance, with fair, clear skin, large, delicately shaped brilliant blue gray eyes framed with long sooty eyelashes and a slight build (he is also a little short for his age), not helped by the fact that his thick blond hair is worn longer than that of many kunoichi.

However, his appearance, minus the already sharp jaw (and Sasori is sure that he'll grow out of the feminine looks as he grows) is where the illusion of Deidara as "feminine" ends. Abruptly. During Deidara's battle _not_ to be carried off by Akatsuki, he displayed that being a preteen with only a few years of shinobi training under his belt wasn't going to stop him. The mouths on his hands are truly disturbing (_Somehow it's always me who gets stuck with the freaks_); no less disturbing is that the boy actually considers those shoddy exploding clay beings to be "art".

Deidara scowls blackly at Sasori, and begins to walk into the room. But almost immediately he stops.

"Something wrong, brat?" Sasori asks wryly, knowing what's coming.

"What's with all these puppets, un?" Deidara's voice is choked; his eyes round as dinner plate.

"You and I are sharing a room. All the Akatsuki partners share a room, except for Leader-sama and Konan; that's only because Konan's a kunoichi. This is our room, and _this_—" Sasori somewhat ostentatiously sweeps Hiruko's tail around "—is my art."

Deidara goes a little red in the face; he looks appalled. "Art?" he whispers. "You gotta be kidding me. Art is supposed to be fleeting and transient, un!"

"You haven't got a clue what you're talking about, brat!" Sasori can't believe he's having this argument with a child.

"It's not art," Deidara repeats stubbornly; the way he frowns looks like a childlike pout. He walks over to the work table, and picks up a little wooden bird, before sitting down with his back against the cabinet doors. He looks up and grins. "But all the same, it's kinda cool."

Behind Hiruko's impassive wooden face, Sasori smiles.

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In ninth grade I took a class called Intro. to Art, and had this sort of relationship with the art teacher, my minimalism versus her elaborate. I love Sasori/Deidara bonding moments.


	12. Silent Watcher

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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The young ANBU feels his blood boil as he watches the little boy totter down the street, unaware of the mob that is gathering behind him.

Kakashi always watches Naruto.

He makes continual excuses to take extra shifts to watch him; there is an entire division devoted to the observation and—if need be—protection of Uzumaki Naruto. If someone is sick or injured, he will cover their shift. If someone has plans, he takes over. Sometimes Kakashi even _encourages_ people not to show so he can take over their shift.

The boy is constantly getting into trouble; Kakashi knows Naruto can't help it. Naruto will most likely be in some sort of trouble for the rest of his life.

Kakashi knows Naruto is Minato-sensei's son. He was one of the few entrusted to Minato-sensei and Kushina's secret, and even if he hadn't been, he would know. Naruto looks so much like his father that it hurts (and Kakashi will never understand why he is one of the only ones who sees it) and Minato was a man of honor; he wouldn't chose a random child to be the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, he wouldn't damn a random child to that hellish fate…

So Kakashi watches Naruto; he feels that he owes that much to his sensei, and the boy isn't a bad kid himself…

The mob grows ugly; Kakashi jumps down like a cat to intervene, but not blows are cast. Naruto stands with a wide trickle of blood seeping down his forehead, his huge blue eyes dazed…

This could have been a young Minato standing behind him. Kakashi feels his throat sicken. _How dare they…_

"Leave," he commands the crowd. One of the villagers, a woman with strawberry blonde, almost pink hair, steps forward to protest.

"You defend this monster?" Kakashi knows her to be Haruno Sonomi, a young mother who lost both her husband and her brother in the Kyuubi's attack.

"Leave," Kakashi repeats, his hand clenching the hilt of his katana. "Before I make you leave." A highly concentrated burst of killing intent, palpable even to a civilian like Sonomi, finally makes the crowd disperse.

Kakashi turns his attention to Naruto. The toddler is beginning to sway on his feet. Kakashi picks him up, and Naruto immediately wraps his arms around Kakashi's neck; they are familiar with each other, made familiar through many encounters such as this one, even if Naruto has never seen Kakashi's face.

"I guess it's another trip to the hospital, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asks softly, feeling blood trickle onto his shoulder; he gently ruffles Naruto's hair, before the toddler grunts in discomfort.

Kakashi will always watch Naruto.

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Like it? Hate it?


	13. Beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Lee is smiling as he runs back towards the foster home; true, the little five-year-old doesn't particularly want to go there, but he had fun playing that day, and they're serving curry fried rice, his favorite.

The sun is setting; if he doesn't get back soon, all the rice will be gone. Lee doesn't think that anyone would notice or care if he was late.

He is running through one of the poorest residential sections of Konoha; they are actually closer to slums than neighborhoods.

Lee stops abruptly. Sitting on one of the tiny stone stoops is a little girl about his age. She is very thin, with brown hair in buns on either side of her face. She's wearing a red tank top with spaghetti straps and a knee-length skirt with a dark golden background and a black floral design.

The first thing Lee notices is that she's very pretty; at least, he thinks so. The second thing he notices is that she's crying, and that her arms are bruised. He frowns. Did she trip going up the stairs like he sometimes does?

Lee, in his typical exuberantly friendly fashion, walks up to her. "Hi!" He smiles hugely. "My name's Lee! What's yours?"

She looks up, revealing wide chocolate brown eyes, and tries to smile. "I'm…Tenten," she whispers, looking up.

He sits down beside her. "Why are you crying, Tenten-san?"

She screws up her face as though it should be obvious. "I'm crying because I'm sad and I hurt, silly."

Lee's eyebrows draw up in sympathy. "Please don't be sad, Tenten-san. If you like, I'll come here tomorrow?"

Tenten smiles shyly, the deep red light of sunset giving her face a shadowy cast. "Alright."

Lee grins triumphantly and tears off down the grimy street. Supper wasn't going to wait forever after all. He does come back tomorrow. And Lee blesses the day that he was late to supper.

* * *

How did I do? Was Lee in character?


	14. Longterm Incarceration

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Shione draws the ratty blanket closer around her as she hears someone walking down the hallway outside the cell block. If that person comes in her cell or close to her cell, Shione doesn't want anyone to see how pathetically thin her clothing has become.

She supposes that the reason the hebi-teme captured her in the first place is because of her strange ability with chakra. A friend of hers with a dōjutsu once told her that her chakra was like a void, that her chakra was the antithesis of living chakra, and that he hadn't seen anything like it except when hearing reports of the Nibi no Nekomata's chakra. What it does is allow Shione to feel "imprints" of those who have been in a place before her. Shione's ears are filled with the wails and whispers of past prisoners.

All Shione doesn't know at this point is what exactly Orochimaru wants with her.

The lock on the door is undone, and the door creaks open loudly.

Shione recognizes the person walking in. She doesn't know his name (and she'll be amazed if he knows hers), but she's seen him often enough. He's a kid, in his mid to late teens, who wears a Leaf headband. She's almost certain that his exclusive function in Orochimaru's "lair" is as med nin; the only time he ever brings the food is when Shione has some sort of medical ailment or injury.

The boy kneels down on the floor beside her, handing her a tray with the daily rations on it. Shione brushes her filty, matted blue black hair (once it barely reached past her shoulders, but now she's pretty sure it falls well past her waist), and promptly devours the rations. It's not what she would consider palatable, but the time when Shione would boycott rations for want of edible food is long over. All throughout the boy observes her the way a scientist would a lab rat while performing an experiment.

"One of the guards reported that you had a hard cough. Turn around."

It doesn't even occur to Shione to say no as she sits with her back to him, wincing as she feels a hand plant itself between her shoulders, the pressure sharply painful on her now-bony back.

"Why is such a young kid working for Orochimaru?" Shione demands abruptly; the words blurt out of the Earth country kunoichi's usually taciturn mouth.

Shione can't bring herself to like any of her jailors, but this kid she can get along with. He reminds her of all the wrong people. He reminds her of her twin brother who was disappointed when they didn't get put on the same genin team. He reminds her of the ANBU kunoichi who had overseen her training, who died so many years ago, the ANBU she referred to as senpai. He reminds her of every med nin she ever met, quietly competent.

He doesn't answer, just continues to perform what she considers a diagnostic.

She tacks another question. "How long have I been here?" Shione turns round so her piercing virid eyes meet the boy's impassive black ones.

His mask falters. "I'm not sure. Since before Orochimaru-sama began to employ me. At least six years."

Shione blinks numbly. Six years. She had been there for over six years, probably longer. That meant that she had to be in at least her early thirties now. Hardly any less shocking was the implication that had been in the boy's laconic words, that Orochimaru was sending his personal medic to take care of her. _Why?_ She no longer bothered to ask why she was here; she knew that that question would never receive an answer.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning with antibiotics, Shione-san." _So he does know my name. _Shione nods, hearing the door slam shut, and the last flicker of light leaving, enveloping her in darkness once more, leaving her alone with the whispers of the dead. And for the first time in many years, Shione sinks down into darkness and weeps.

* * *

Shione is the name I gave to the woman whose body Orochimaru is shown to inhabit during his fight with the Sandaime Hokage. She doesn't seem to have a name, so I gave her one. I figured that if Orochimaru was going to possess this woman's body, she probably had some weird kekkei genkai.


	15. In the Face of the Setting Sun

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"_You were born in the evening, darling," Tokemi tells her daughter as they stare out at the fiery glory of the setting desert sun. "That's why we named you Kurenai."_

Yuuhi Kurenai was not born in Konohagakure. She was born in Sunagakure.

Kurenai was orphaned during the darkest days of the Second War. Her parents were formidable Sand shinobi—her father, Yuuhi Tsuyoshi was a shinobi who employed genjutsu and her mother Tokemi was a puppet master—who had been assigned to a border town, and had taken their two daughters with them.

The ensuing battle had left only one survivor: young Yuuhi Kurenai, who had been knocked out by a nerve gas. Her older sister Akemi was found dead, shielding Kurenai's body with her own; that was the only reason Kurenai had survived the nerve gas. The ensuing weeks she had spent in a Konohagakure hospital had been a haze of torment, sorrow, and festering hate for her caretakers.

Her hate had eventually died down, and she had been taken in by a shinobi family. They had never formally adopted her, but no one ever contested her staying with them.

Kurenai had grown up with no mother figure (she was raised by a man and his two sons, whom she had referred to by their first names; she couldn't bear to call the old man "otousan" and the younger two "niisan") except for the girlfriend of one of the younger men, and she wasn't much of a mother figure herself. All she really did was fuss over Kurenai and treat her like a little geisha doll to be dressed up.

As a child, Kurenai spends her time staring out windows at sunset and wishing she was back in the desert, wishing to feel sand on her face once more, to feel the blinding heat of day and the coolness of night, to see so many clear, beautiful stars…

As an adult, she still wishes that she didn't have to leave Suna from time to time (and Kurenai takes every mission to Suna that comes her way. All those in Suna know just by looking at her that, by birth, she is one of them; she has that indefinable quality that is unique to a Suna shinobi, that sets her apart from all Leaf shinobi, and she has reunited with her birth family, a respected shinobi clan), but she accepts her loss, and has become a loyal Leaf kunoichi.

But in the hour between darkness and light, still she wonders…

_Kurenai sits at the windowseat and smiles up at her mother, before going back to allowing her unusual red-tinted eyes, a trait inherited from her father, to drink in the glorious sunset. She loves it here._

…what might have been.

* * *

Kurenai does seem a little different from your average Leaf shinobi, and I heard it somewhere hinted that she wasn't born in Konoha, so _voila_.


	16. Many Waters

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Outside, rain is pounding on the roof.

Temari stares out the window, her chin propped up on her fist as she uses the other hand to tap on her knee.

Gaara is in a Konoha hospital room. Nothing serious, just the burn of chakra exhaustion after fighting Orochimaru's subordinate (_Freak, _Temari thinks, judging from what Lee told her about him) Kimimaro; he's being prescribed some restorative pills to get him back to top form more quickly.

Temari growls as both of her hands clench her knees. It's all because of that Sasuke kid. Temari's always despised disloyalty; that's part of the reason she can't bring to feel anything but contempt and abhorrence for Chiyo-baa-sama.

Kankuro and that med nin attendant of Tsunade's (Temari isn't sure of her name, but she thinks it's Shizune) found common ground in that both work extensively with poisons; the moment the woman's shift was over, they walked off and Temari hasn't seen either of them since.

Temari's had to deal with a lot today. She's dealt with a crying Shikamaru (crying! And even though Temari considers him to be a little crybaby, she couldn't resist going up to the roof to comfort him and call him in from the rain; she's still wet), a frantic little blonde girl, a teammate of Shikamaru's, sobbing her heart out on Temari's shoulder and wailing "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you," until Shikamaru pulled her off of her. She's dealt with the site of that little knucklehead Naruto swathed head to foot in bandages, frantically assuring his kunoichi teammate that he hadn't "forgotten his promise". Oddly, that above everything else upset Temari the most.

Both Temari and Kankuro were horrified to hear Lee's account of the battle with Kimimaro. From the sounds of it, Gaara and Lee were lucky to come out of that battle with all their limbs intact and in place.

More impressive was Lee's account of the self-control Gaara displayed; Temari knew he had been getting better, but this was the first serious mission they'd been on since the disastrous Chunin Exams.

Temari grimaces as she remembers the Chunin Exams. There her failures were put right before her face, and the judge didn't even know he was judging her.

The Sand kunoichi hides her face in her hands momentarily. It is bad enough for her that she has realized what a shoddy older sister she is, but it's a loudmouth little blond genin who's shaping up to be more of a sibling to Gaara than she or Kankuro ever were. _Naruto's what Gaara needs._

Her readheaded brother steps out of the adjacent room, looking at her with an expression that seems a cross between blankness, curiosity, and aching, lonely _emptiness._

Temari pushes her thoughts out of mind, and stands, smiling her typical confident smile. Though she knows that as long as the Shukaku exists, Gaara can never truly be hers and Kankuro's, it's not too late to start being a _real_ older sister.

"Kankuro's ran off somewhere with a med nin. We should go find him."

Gaara nods, and they both run out into the rain.

* * *

"Many waters can not quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned."—Song of Solomon, 8:7, the Holy Bible, King James Version.

* * *

How was that? It probably would have been more effective if I had made it longer, but I was aiming for a relatively minimalist style; I hope you liked it. Reviews are welcomed and pasted in scrapbooks.


	17. Where the Story Ends

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Jiraiya smiles contentedly as he watches Naruto goof off with his friends; it is a sweltering summer day, so every one has stripped down to t-shirts and camisole shirts. The very image of his father in looks and his mother in spirit, Naruto is growing fast and is remarkably cheerful despite the weight of the Kyuubi upon his back.

A few old memories flash before him in the form of the pearl-eyed Hinata smiling and latching herself onto Naruto's arm, and Jiraiya is back in the distant past.

Over thirty years ago, the Land of the Whirlpool was decimated by the forces of Kirigakure, scattering their shinobi forces across the world, mainly into Suna and the Land of Rivers. But a few came to Konoha.

Jiraiya had woken up one morning to discover that there were new tenants in the apartment next to his. He quickly became acquainted with the young Uzumaki twins, the older of whom was Kushina. However, the one who grabbed his attention in particular was the mother of the two small children, a woman with emeralds for eyes, fire-red hair and the temper to match, a freshly widowed kunoichi named Uzumaki Manami.

What happened next is best described as a whirlwind romance and probably the only time an infatuation of Jiraiya's didn't run to lust or shrivel up. It lasted maybe two years, before death put the distance between the two of them. After Manami, Jiraiya was hardly able to take his relationships seriously; that was what royally screwed up the only chance he ever had with Tsunade, the one and only time she ever asked him out on a date.

Jiraiya would have taken the two children into his home, just because he was fond of both of them, but Tsunade raised objections based on his perceived pervertedness (Jiraiya prefers women who are physically mature, but Tsunade evidently doesn't know, which might explain her threats concerning Shizune when she first took the girl on as her apprentice; Jiraiya still shudders to think about it, and to be honest he looks at the girl more like a niece even when she's grown), and the twins are sent off into an orphanage.

Jiraiya can't do much for them, but he can promise the overseers of the orphanage that if he should hear even the slightest whisper of mistreatment, the wrath of God (in the form of hordes of angry toads) will be falling on their heads. The overseers take it seriously. And there the twins and Jiraiya meet Namikaze Minato.

Eventually Jiraiya takes on Minato and Uzumaki Arashi as his students in Toad summoning before the latter is killed as a teenager in the Third War, and Kushina grows up to be a pillar of the ANBU Black Op.s, resembling her mother in every way except that she is slightly taller, slightly more even-tempered, and her eyes are a shade of violet-gray.

When all are gone, Jiraiya thinks back to Manami and sighs. The time for tears and rage is long over, and time is ever rushing between him and the past, but an aching, longing emptiness still exists.

For that more innocent time. When Sensei was still alive, when Tsunade was happy and unhandicapped by fear and grief, when Orochimaru wasn't a traitor to the village, when everything seemed so much simpler.

For Manami, for Minato, for Arashi and Kushina. Naruto is some of all of them. He has Minato's looks and compassion, Arashi's propensity for pranks, Manami's quick temper, Kushina's kind cheerfulness.

But every story has to end somewhere, and if it ends with Naruto, then Jiraiya isn't too upset about that.

Jiraiya watches Naruto, and smiles. _Manami. Arashi. Kushina. Minato. I think you all would be very proud of him._

* * *

Oh, I forgot to add a disclaimer to the quote at the bottom of the last entry, so let me say: (Obviously) I do not own the Bible, nor will I ever claim to. Heaven forbid.

I've heard that the reason Naruto's father was identified as Uzumaki Arashi before Minato was introduced is because of a name seen on the Toad Summoning contract. I figured I'd knock that conspiracy out of the park and give Naruto an uncle in the process.

I'd suggest you listen to the song by The Fray of the same title as this entry. It fits really well.

As a final note, just so you know, Chapter Two of my multichapter _Naruto _fic, _The Fourth Great War_, is up.


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